P8000 new ink - do I need a new chip?

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
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I have a new SureColor P8000 printer. I started with the provided Epson inks. I purchased a startup set of conecolor inks (350ml), each of which came with a chip, and installed my first one successfully.

I just recently purchased some larger containers (700ml) of ink. I received just the ink, in bottles.

My question: as I understand it, according to this link, the level of ink in the cart can not increase using the same chip – so I can’t take a half-full cart and refill it before it runs out, right? On that web page it says:

If a chip has not been fully exhausted, a chip with the same serial number but with a higher percentage of ink remaining can not be used or the printer will not operate, and that serial number can never be used again in that individual printer even if the first chip matching the internal database is inserted.

That means that each time I use a cart, I need to also use a new chip – is that right? So, should I buy a new chip each time I buy a new container of ink? And, it looks as though there are only 8 chip series available. Does this mean that after 8 refills, I won’t have the option to use conecolor inks?

That understanding seems to contradict other information out there, for instance at this link it says:

Update to instructions, Jan24 2019: It can be hard to fully fill these carts with 700mL of ink during your first fill. We suggest topping the cartridge off and re-priming when the level reads 1/3 empty on the printer’s control panel. This ensures two things. 1. You never run the cartridge dry. 2. You are pulling your cartridge out and agitating it (which you should do regularly anyway).

But – that would meant that the level would increase. Per the first quoted information, wouldn’t the printer then disallow using that cart?

Trying to figure out if I need to buy a chip with each purchase of ink, or if I can fill up existing carts before they run out of ink… Thanks.

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The chip and cart level are entirely independent. There is no “ink level sensor.”

The chip is registered at 700mL. The printer deprecates the MLs by counting droplets printed/cleaned. That is all. You simply need to ensure (manually) that the cart is at least 1/3 full at all times if you plan to run the cart out of sync with the chip (aka, at a lower level).

Re: first fill, it is our experience with several hundred customers that they are unable to fully fill a complete 700mL at once and that also these carts (being refillable) do not want to be run completely dry. Actually epson enforces a 1/3 full/empty rule on their own chips meaning at 1/3rd full the chip “runs dry” on the printer and disallows printing. Epson has been sued for this but I think it’s a safety measure on their end to not cause air bubble problems.

tldr: keep your carts full and you’ll be fine with the chip all the way until it doesn’t allow printing. At that point you will have printed 700mLs of ink through that channel and it’s time to top off the cart and switch chips.

Hint 1: Keep the used chip taped to you printer so you always have a handy record of what series chip you used previously.
Hint 2: Always purchase your next chip when you first start using the chip before.

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Hi and thanks.
OK, so one chip is good for 700 ml, and when the printer has used 700 it tells you you’re out of ink and you then switch to a new chip. Makes sense.
Regarding your comment that “there’s no ink level sensor.” Please see image: I just put in a new cart of MK, and new MK chip. I only filled the cart with 350 ml. The level reads half full, but shouldn’t it read full? It’s a new chip and hasn’t been used to print yet. If there’s no level sensor how come the printer thinks I’m at a half cart full?
Epson-P8000

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we have sold several thousand chips (tested several hundred more) and this has never come up. Please verify your chip. There is a serial # on it you can verify against your sales order.

-Walker

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OK - I’m quite embarrassed! Went back and checked my empty chip envelopes, and realize that I had previously installed a new LK cart, not a new MK! But because the MK level read half-full, instead of almost empty like the others, I thought I’d replaced it and it had only registered half full. My apologies, but glad that the mystery is solved.

1 Like
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I am in the process of topping up my 700ml carts after first fill.

As reported above I was not able to completely fill the carts initially. I plan on using up the remaining ink in the 700ml container. And then using fresh ink, fill the carts as full as possible. And re-prime, of course.

I want to verify the above statement: “keep your carts full and you’ll be fine with the chip all the way until it doesn’t allow printing”. So it does not matter if the total volume of ink in the cart exceeds (over time) 700 ml as the printer “keeps track” of ink used and “doesn’t allow printing” once it detects 700ml (approximately) of ink has gone through the cart? At that point it is time to replace the one time chip.

thank you.
Michael